IAM2749 – How Video Conversations Eliminate Service Bottlenecks

Overcoming the Verbal Bottleneck

A significant bottleneck in service-based industries is the reliance on fragmented, non-visual communication to understand a technical or physical problem. Businesses frequently find themselves trapped in a cycle of deciphering vague text messages, static photos, and disjointed emails, yet they often cannot truly diagnose the issue until they are physically looking at it. This reliance on verbal or text-based descriptions creates an efficiency gap that delays solutions and leads to unnecessary back-and-forth between the provider and the client.

The Efficiency of Video Conversations

The transition from explaining a problem to showing it via a video conversation fundamentally changes the service workflow. Whether through a quick walkthrough or a live recording, visual context allows for an immediate and accurate diagnosis of the issue without the need for an initial face-to-face meeting. This approach eliminates the guesswork common in industries like plumbing, moving, or property management, enabling professionals to see the specific cause of a leak or the exact volume of items to be moved before they even arrive on-site.

Engineering Accuracy through Instant Sight

Leveraging video tools allows service providers to diagnose problems with their own eyes instantly, fostering a more direct and effective conversation with the customer. By integrating visual data into the diagnostic process, businesses can answer technical questions immediately at their fingertips rather than attempting to interpret complex descriptions over the phone. Ultimately, shifting to a “video-first” communication model ensures that the professional is solving the correct problem the first time, making the entire service interaction easier, more consistent, and more reliable.

Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/iam2748-the-strategic-advantage-of-simplification/

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Transcription:

Gresham Harkless 00:00
I can't tell you the amount of times I've said this. If I can see it, I can probably help you solve it. But it's hard to solve any issues without seeing. For me, this crops up a lot of times with technology, but honestly, it can happen across all types of industries like plumbing, H vac, garage doors, cleaning, moving, property management, real estate. Basically anywhere where seeing the problem actually matters. Lately I keep noticing how often service based businesses get stuck going back and forth to trying to understand what the issue actually is is. And why do I notice it? Because it happens to me too.

If you're building something meaningful, you're in the right place. This is the I Am CEO Podcast. I'm Gresh, and for over a decade I've had the honor and the privilege of Learning directly from CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners just like you on how to build after recording more than 1600 episodes, one thing has become clear. Success isn't about following someone else's blueprint. And as I like to say on the show, if you run your own race, you can't lose, even when you feel the journey should be a straight and linear path. What I've come to find out is success is a lot more like a plate of spaghetti. So in this special segment and episode, I'm starting to curate and share some CEO hacks and CEO nuggets that I've been dying to share. Drawn from thousands of episodes with phenomenal guests that have provided awesome value on the show, but also my 10 years of business experience as well too. These lessons are designed to strengthen the foundational principles that every business is built on and guided by a simple equation that we always go back to with our content. Visibility plus resources times connections equals success. This is practical wisdom you can apply almost immediately, so be sure to check out the show notes for more resources and next steps on how to level up. And of course, enjoy this special episode of the I Am CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 01:58

I can't tell you the amount of times I've said this. If I can see it, I can probably help you solve it. But it's hard to solve any issues without seeing. For me, this crops up a lot of times with technology, but honestly, it can happen across all types of industries like plumbing, H vac, garage doors, cleaning, moving, property management, real estate. Basically anywhere where seeing the problem actually matters. Lately I keep noticing how often service based businesses get stuck going back and forth to trying to understand what the issue actually is. And why do I notice it? Because it happens to me too. Picture this or you could probably even look down, you see a bunch of texts, a few photos, maybe a call, potentially an email. You still don't really know until somebody's standing there looking at it. What's really interesting is you start to realize how much smoother things can get when someone just uses a video, a quick walkthrough, potentially a live look, maybe even a short recording. So I had James on the podcast, episode number 2390 of our MCO podcast, and he's the CRO of Liveswitch. And we chatted around the problem, but it really clicked for me that the tool, while it definitely matters, it doesn't always matter. Sometimes it's just the shift in the visual that changes everything. But what makes everything even better, liveswitch has taken that and kind of run with it. And that's a lot of what we talked about on the podcast, just to make things easier and more consistent for people to have those conversations. So if you're a mover, potentially you get to see exactly what you're moving before you provide a quote. Potentially you are repairing a garage door and you actually see what the damage is before you do that. Or maybe you're a plumber and you realize that the leak is happening because these things, you get the opportunity to mix FaceTime with Zoom and ChatGPT all in one to make sure that you're helping your clients solve their problems. Imagine not having to meet face to face or decipher calls, texts, or emails to try to solve the problem. Get to answer that question right there at your fingertips. What's really cool is you get to connect with your client or customer, and you get to actually diagnose what the problem is, but you get to see it with your own eyes instantly and have that conversation and back and forth. Really cool tool, something you should definitely check out. But at the heart of it, just remember, instead of having those back and forths, why not use a video, why not have a conversation?